Dedicated to cicadas, the most amazing insects in the world.
Can you identify this cicada from Bucharest, Romania?
These photos were taken by Tudor Sava. I’ve cropped them so you can get a closer view.
Since the cicada is in the process of molting/has just molted, it doesn’t have its final adult colors yet. There’s a good chance some of the brown, green, and red/orange colors will be
Lyristes plebejus is a cicada found in most of Europe and middle-eastern Asia. There is an ongoing debate over its genus. Some say Lyristes, and some say Tibicen. I don’t have an opinion on the matter, but most folks in Europe say Lyristes plebejus, so I’m leading with that name.
Photo of an adult Lyristes plebejus by Iván Jesus Torresano García:
Photo of a molting Lyristes plebejus by Iván Jesus Torresano García:
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Cryptotympanini
SubTribe: Cryptotympanina
Genus: Lyristes or Tibicen
Species: Lyristes plebejus (Scopoli 1763) or Tibicen plebejus (Scopoli 1763)
According to iNaturalist this cicada is around between June and August. Peak in July.
View more photos of this cicada. Most photos by Iván Jesus Torresano García. There’s nearly 100.
For more information about this cicada, visit SONGS OF EUROPEAN SINGING CICADAS.
Cicada orni (Ash Cicada) is a cicada found in many European & Asian countries, including Spain, Turkey, Albania, Austria, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Egypt, France, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Romania, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia. It is also known as the Ash cicada.
Photo by Iván Jesus Torresano García taken in Spain.
A video by Iván Jesus Torresano García taken in Spain.:
Scientific classification:
Family: Cicadidae
Subfamily: Cicadinae
Tribe: Cicadini
SubTribe: Cicadina
Genus: Cicada
Species: Cicada orni Linnaeus, 1758
According to iNaturalist Cicada orni is around between June and August. They peak in July.
For more information about this cicada visit SONGS OF EUROPEAN SINGING CICADAS.
Cicada orni photo by Iván Jesus Torresano García.
Euryphara contentei photo by Iván Jesus Torresano García.
Hilaphura varipes photo by Iván Jesus Torresano García.
Tibicen/Lyristes plebejus photo by Iván Jesús Torresano García
Galleries:
Tettigettalna argentata photo by Iván Jesus Torresano García
Click the images for larger versions, the species name and the name of the photographer.
Iván Jesús Torresano García send us a dozens of cicada photos from Spain, where he resides. According to Iván June is a peak time for cicadas in Spain. Cicadas common to the area are: Cicada orni, Lyristes (old Tibicen) plebejus, Tettigetta argentata, Hilapura varipes, Euryphara contentei (miniature), Tibicina tomentosa, and finally the brownish “Barbara Lusitanica Cicada”.
Galleries:
Here are some of these cicadas captured by Iván.
Cicada orni:
Cicada orni is one of the most common cicadas in Spain and all of Europe. The are incredibly well camouflaged.
Tettigettalna argentata:
Hilaphura varipes:
Euryphara contentei:
For more information of the cicadas of Spain, visit Songs of European Singing Cicadas.
A Tibicen by any other name would still sound as sweet…
I always wondered why Lyristes plebejus is also called Tibicen plebejus.
It seems that there is a dispute as to whether the genus Tibicen should actually be called Lyristes. A petition was made (back in the 1980s) to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, to change Tibicen to Lyristes. I learned this from the wonderful new book, The Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadoidea: Cicadidae) of North America North of Mexico by Allen F. Sanborn and Maxine S. Heath (order it). I checked the ICZN website, and the petition appears to fallen off their docket of open cases. I also noticed that on European and Japanese websites, they use Lyristes.
I personally hope the genus name doesn’t change for North American species — I would have to make a lot of changes on this website. Going through the name change from Tibicen chloromera to Tibicen chloromerus to Tibicen tibcen, was bad enough.
The root of the word Tibicen is flute player, and the root of the word Lyristes is lyre — both referring to musical instruments. (Frankly I think most Tibicen sound like power tools — I don’t know Latin for Black & Decker).
BTW, this is a Lyristes plebejus (from Spain):
Photo by Iván Jesús Torresano García.
And this is a Lyristes flammatus (from Japan):
Photo by Osamu Hikino
And some day, this might be a Lyristes auletes (from North Carolina):
Photo by Erin.